Image-based depth-sensors may be used in a variety of different environments. For example, an image-based depth sensor may be used with a video game system to allow players to interact with the video game system through the use of bodily gestures alone, without the use of hand-held motion sensors or the like to detect the gestures.
Some image-based depth sensors utilize structured light to sense depth in an image. In such systems, a projector is used to illuminate a target (object) with a predefined light pattern. An image of this light pattern as reflected by the target is then acquired via an image sensor, and depth information is calculated from the distortion of the pattern relative to a known reference pattern in the image caused by the shape of objects in the target. The performance of such image-based depth sensors may be dependent upon the contrast of the light pattern in the image, which may be dependent upon the intensity and nature of ambient light.